UCLA Free online course, public health: "If I Must Die: Public Health, Power, & Palestine". Curso gratuito de salud pública online, en línea, por Internet, en inglés: "Si debo morir: Salud pública, poder y Palestina" ENG ESP

ENGLISH

Free online course, public health: "If I Must Die: Public Health, Power, & Palestine".

UCLA public health students spent the past year (2025) creating a course on Palestinian public health, and it’s now online for anyone who wants to take it. FSPH (Fielding School of Public Health) graduate students and faculty UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles, USA).

Similar to previous courses focused on antiracism and health justice at the Fielding School of Public Health, this course centers on the history, stories, and voices of those individuals currently experiencing the most harm and violence in the region and finding solutions against it: Palestinians in Gaza. 

Course Description
This is a student-led course that provides public health students an opportunity to explore health inequities and understand public health issues in the context of health justice and occupied Palestine. Students will use foundational public health frameworks and theories to explore a range of issues relating to Palestinian health and well-being: i) mental health, ii) environmental and occupational health; iii) communicable, maternal, perinatal, and nutritional conditions; and iv) conflict-related health.  

Drawing from research and practice in public health, and informed by social science theories, students will assess the connections between the inequities produced by occupation, colonization, and escalating violence. This will include examination of the role of racism, war, and mass displacement in shaping the experiences of Palestinians living under different regimes of control across occupied Palestine. 

Based on their understanding of these concepts, students will develop their own perspectives on the role of public health professionals in advancing the rights and justice of all occupied people(s).

The readings, discussions, and reflections will culminate in a final project that can serve as a jumping-off point for future public health work and research on this subject.

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